This is an excerpt from my book: “Do You Hate Your Job?” – I re-read it today because I am feeling some of these feelings at the moment and this helped. To get a free pdf copy of my book see instructions at the bottom…

“If you do decide to find a new job, new career or start up your own business know that there may well be fear and confusion along the way.

Learn to accept that, learn to understand that growing as a person is happening alongside this journey of following your passion, dream or goal. Sometimes you have to take the hit. If you want to go into events planning but don’t have the experience, why not get a job just helping other planners set their events up and learn how they do it from the ground up.

If you feel totally stuck or paralysed by fear or doubt – get calm. Sit still, breathe deeply and slowly and reconnect with your intuition, excitement, creativity and imagination. Trust yourself.

Accept that you won’t know all the answers, accept that you will have to take risks and above all accept that you may fail along the way. This is part of the journey. If it was easy everyone would do it – but they don’t. This is the road less travelled, this is the path to success, the difficult path but the one that leads to more fulfillment, contentedness, happiness, joy and ultimately life.

I did it, in fact I’m still doing it. Yes, I still have doubts and fears and I still find myself procrastinating from time to time. But at least now I’m aware of what’s going on and how to change it.

And remember to give yourself a break. It’s normal to be afraid, it’s normal to be unsure. Rather than chastise yourself for these negative feel- ings, acknowledge them. Sit with them for a while. Listen to what they’re trying to tell you. Then question if you agree with them or not.

Feelings are natural – accept them, allow them. If you want to know the strategies and tactics to change them… read on.”

To read the whole book simply email me at: stuart.young40@googlemail.com with “Send me the book” in the subject line and I’ll send it to you direct, no strings, no endless emails trying to sell you something. Promise!

For the last few days I’ve found myself short tempered. Hair-triggered, if you know what I mean. Flaring up into a near rage over the tiniest things.

I then went on to ask myself the exact wrong question: Why am I short tempered at the moment?

It’s the wrong question because I already know my mind is going to find valid answers for ‘why’ I should be ill tempered; the dogs made a mess of the house, I couldn’t find what I needed in the cupboard because we have too much stuff, etc.

You may be feeling angry, or disappointed, or depressed, or confused at the moment too but feel that you ‘should’ be happier – after all..it’s Happy New Year, right?

Then this morning, whilst walking one of our dogs in the January drizzle I remembered the lesson I learned from Paul & Layne Cutright – “You’re Never Upset for the Reason You Think You Are”.

Suddenly, it became obvious.

The very thing I like to help others find: clarity, was the one thing I was searching for myself. Ironic.

I am in the process of expanding a particular business interest at the moment but had not gotten clear about ‘how’ I was going to proceed. Because I was confused I distracted myself from the task of getting clear.

This realisation immediately filled me with a sense of calm, the tension in my muscles physically lessened and I set about putting the process into action.

The rest of today I’ll be getting clearer and clearer about what I am going to do moving forwards, and just as importantly, what I’m not going to do in this new year.

Tip: If you are feeling a bit low at the moment instead of asking yourself why you feel low, ask – what will make me feel brighter, happier, excited?

And finally: Dan Rockwell recently wrote a blog post titled: Getting the Most From Anger. He suggested: When you feel angry, stop and observe yourself. Ask, will I be proud of what happens next?

It’s the psychology of continuing with an endeavour even though it may be fruitless simply because you have invested so much time in it already.

Even when we know the outcome will not be satisfying we continue so as not to feel that the time and effort already invested has not been wasted. Yet to add more time and effort is to add to that waste.